I don't know about the rest of the TVNL membership, but I am sick of all the hype about the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. It is my opinion that these attacks could have been prevented if the Bush admin had actually wanted them to be. It's my opinion that the people so tragically killed on that day didn't have to die, and now it's time to let them rest in peace. It's my opinion that the response to those attacks, mainly the invasion of Iraq, was wrong and misguided. I tend to agree with the following commentary:

I’m talking about the tenth anniversary ceremonies for 9/11, and everything that goes with them: the solemn reading of the names of the dead, the tolling of bells, the honoring of first responders, the gathering of presidents, the dedication of the new memorial, the moments of silence. The works.

Let’s just can it all. Shut down Ground Zero. Lock out the tourists. Close “Reflecting Absence,” the memorial built in the “footprints” of the former towers with its grove of trees, giant pools, and multiple waterfalls before it can be unveiled this Sunday. Discontinue work on the underground National September 11 Museum due to open in 2012. Tear down the Freedom Tower (redubbed 1 World Trade Center after our “freedom” wars went awry), 102 stories of “the most expensive skyscraper ever constructed in the United States.” (Estimated price tag: $3.3 billion.) Eliminate that still-being-constructed, hubris-filled 1,776 feet of building, planned in the heyday of George W. Bush and soaring into the Manhattan sky like a nyaah-nyaah invitation to future terrorists. Dismantle the other three office towers being built there as part of an $11 billion government-sponsored construction program. Let’s get rid of it all. If we had wanted a memorial to 9/11, it would have been more appropriate to leave one of the giant shards of broken tower there untouched.

Ask yourself this: ten years into the post-9/11 era, haven't we had enough of ourselves? If we have any respect for history or humanity or decency left, isn’t it time to rip the Band-Aid off the wound, to remove 9/11 from our collective consciousness? No more invocations of those attacks to explain otherwise inexplicable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and our oh-so-global war on terror. No more invocations of 9/11 to keep the Pentagon and the national security state flooded with money. No more invocations of 9/11 to justify every encroachment on liberty, every new step in the surveillance of Americans, every advance in pat-downs and wand-downs and strip downs that keeps fear high and the homeland security state afloat.

The attacks of September 11, 2001 were in every sense abusive, horrific acts. And the saddest thing is that the victims of those suicidal monstrosities have been misused here ever since under the guise of pious remembrance. This country has become dependent on the dead of 9/11 -- who have no way of defending themselves against how they have been used -- as an all-purpose explanation for our own goodness and the horrors we’ve visited on others, for the many towers-worth of dead in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere whose blood is on our hands.

MORE OF TOM DISPATCH'S COMMENTS AT THE LINK

It's my opinion that the 9/11 attacks did indeed damage our national security, but ten years later, our national security is in greater danger from the likes of Karl Rove, Rush Limbaugh, Faux Noise, Rick Perry, Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Cantor, the PNAC, cuts to Education and the rise of the extreme right-wingnuts who want to destroy the Constitution and make our nation a theocracy, the Republican Teabaggers in Congress and those who actually believe that the Earth is only 6.000 years old. Of course, there are some Islamist extremists who want to destroy America, but there are also some American extremists who I call the Christian Taliban who want to do the same thing. The Tea Party is just as dangerous in their zeal for "less government," which interpreted by them means "no government."

Let's let go of 9/11 and try to heal ourselves by not constantly focusing on it. We were attacked at Pearl Harbor in 1941, entered World War 2, and were on the Missouri four years later, signing a peace treaty with Japan. We had developed a nuclear bomb that made us a superpower. Then we moved on. It's time to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, make peace with ourselves and again.... move on.

According to a response to Tom's commentary, we lost more on 9/11 than just human lives:

Quote:

The 9/11 attacks enabled the PNACzi fascists to take over your country, with the following results:1) Loss of your rights and freedoms (PATRIOT Act and other Legislation)2) Loss of habeas corpus protection3) Loss of protection against unreasonable search and seizure4) Loss of "innocent until proven guilty"5) You can now be arrested, tortured, "disappeared", and even murdered on the President's (or any other security official's) say-so6) Loss of privacy protection (personal information, bank records, medical records, library records, telephone/email tapping and monitoring, etc.)7) Bankrupting your country with multi-trillion-dollar wars, Banking/Wall Street bailouts, the Military/Industrial Complex, etc.

So, the existence of your country is endangered, although it is "the enemy within" (PNACzis, Tea Partiers, etc.) who are endangering it, not any "Muslim Terrorists" or other external enemies.

(See the link above. Submitted by artlj56)

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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."Honore de Balzac

"Democrats work to help people who need help. That other party, they work for people who don't need help. That's all there is to it."~Harry S. Truman

On 9/11 I managed to miss all the hoopla. It is a day of mourning for me. The day when Rs took over our country. The Gore/Bush election was the start, 9/11 finised the job. America's citizens followed the calls of R politicians like children following the Pied Piper. They have never recovered.

I often wonder, if another country spent 10 years bombing us, kicking our doors in and killing or capturing the men of the family, treating us with total disregard, well, treating us the way Rs do, what would be our response? The same response Rs get now? Aside from Bernie Sanders who is fighting for us?

Things are bad. They could certainly get worse. What is the best way to fight for decency?